Dark Beauty

It's Friday. It's cold...It's rainy....It's dreary...and....The storm clouds are building and more rain is headed this way...It's not only dark and dreary outside but it's equally dark on the inside as well... People hurt....and when the deep wounds of our soul are not healed than we are likely to spread our hurts to others and sometimes we are the recipients of the pain of others. It can't be avoided. We all get hurt and we all spread our hurt to others, especially those we love from time to time...something to ponder....why do we often associate cold and rain with being dreary? Is there not something beautiful to be found in the dark clouds and rain for those who have eyes to see?... Thomas Moore writes,"Just as the beauty of nature includes storms, droughts, and geological eruptions, so the beauty of a person includes emotional storminess, dry periods, and occasional explosions. To care for the soul in earnest, you have to learn to appreciate the dark elements a well as the light ones. As you come to appreciate your darkness, you may also understand that some of your lightness may be a defense against the dark. You may present a calm exterior, whereas your interior life is stormy and turbulent. You may not even allow yourself to confront your darkness.".... I have been hurt and I have been wounded and today I ponder. Where is the beauty in the darkness? Are not shadows dependent on light?...and....what would light be without darkness?......Two of my alltime favorite films are Schindler's List and Awakenings. Many people find these films either very sad and depressing or both. I won't argue. But there is beauty as well. Oscar Schindler is a selfish man, a womanizer, and someone who gains his wealth by exploiting others. Doctor Sayers is a recluse who apparenlty indulges only himself except when at work and someone who by his own admission is not very good with people and would rather avoid working with people at all if he had his choice...but...is there not beauty as well? Schindler saving so many Jews. Schindler encouraging the Nazi guards to go home to their families before the Allies arrive to liberate the camps. Doctor Sayers working diligently to find a cure for his patients. The slow dance scene at the end between Leonard and the young beautiful woman who grants Leonard no doubt his final hearts desire before he drifts back into the shadows from whence he was awakened.....Darkness and beauty....Two sides to the same coin?....Fraternal twins?....Co-dependents?.....Where there is darkness there is beauty......A prayer.....God help us to see beauty during the Dark Nights of our Souls. Help us to not lose hope....Help those who hurt us to forgive themselves.....and..... open our eyes and the windows of our souls so that we might experience and understand the beauty that is often hidden from sight when darkness is present.......